Forget The Hurt
by Tenriia
Summary: Hinata finally confesses her love to Naruto... what does he do? KIBAHINA! Suggests a little Narusaku and Nejiten.


Hinata stared at him blankly, still processing the words that had left his mouth. They repeated again and again in her mind. "No. No. I. Don't. Like. You. That. Way. I'm. Sorry." They lurched unnaturally over and over until she felt her stomach tighten, and uncontrollable tears form in the corners of her eyes. In the one moment of courage in her life, she had found a reason to never speak again. The world spun around in dizzy circles until nothing remained but darkness.

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Kiba rounded the corner towards Ichiraku Ramen after a long day of training Akamaru. "Ah…" He sighed as he stretched his arms, "I'm hungry. Aren't you, Akamaru?" His little dog yipped in an excited reply. "Ha ha, good! Want some ramen?"

"Arf!" Akamaru barked happily in reply. Kiba was just about to enter the comfy little shop when he sensed something unusual… A small prickle of uneasiness shot through him. Akamaru sensed it too, and began growling at figure that was looming behind Ichiraku. He cautiously moved towards the shadows, into the back alleyway of the ramen shop. As he came closer, he noticed a small, delicate-looking figure collapse into the ground. The taller figure suddenly stiffened, and looked straight into Kiba's eyes.

"Kiba?!" The person choked out in confusion. Kiba recognized that voice…

"Naruto?! Is that you? What happened? Who is that with you?" Kiba walked farther down the alley, closer towards Naruto.

"Yeah, yeah, It's me, but you've got to help me! You see, I was just talking to Hinata and she just… just…"

Kiba ran now, not towards Naruto, but towards the collapsed person beside him.

"HINATA! Hinata, you okay? Come on, I'll get you to the hospital…" Suddenly, his senses ran out of control and he felt a hot anger… towards whoever had done this to Hinata. Her body looked small and vulnerable, and her face was covered in tears. She was completely unconscious. "… and Naruto, what the hell were you talking to her about to make her get like this? I swear that I'll… I'll kill you if you ever do anything to her that makes her cry again!" Akamaru growled in agreement as they ran out of the alleyway and headed straight for the medics team.

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Hinata slowly opened her eyes. They felt sore… and heavy. She struggled to keep them just open enough to see what was happening. She was in a clean, white room, in a sturdy iron bed and boring, white sheets.

She heard faint voices. She recognized them, but could not place who they belonged to. They seemed to be talking about her.

"Oh, she'll be fine I'm sure… on the outside, but it seems like something else happened to her… A girl's heart is very delicate, you know."

"Hers especially. I know all about it, having known her for so long. But still, she's pretty strong on the inside…"

"Naruto told me… what happened. He said that she… confessed to him that she loved him. He thought it was sweet, but he had to say no… because of…"

"What?! How could he? How could anyone reject her? Does he know how much that could have hurt her?!"

"Kiba… calm down… You can't say yes to something you don't want…"

"But that's just it. How could he NOT like her that way? It's beyond me how anyone could stand being without her!"

"Kiba, shouldn't you be happy about this?"

"Why, Sakura? Why should I be happy that Hinata has been completely crushed by some annoying, ignorant guy?"

"Well, maybe you could… maybe put her back together…?" She heard Sakura giggle to herself.

"Unlikely. I couldn't do that to her… I'd probably hurt her more… she's probably not going to give up on that idiot for someone like me."

Hinata gasped silently in disbelief. Kiba… Kiba loved her? She had never thought… never even imagined anyone loving her… But when she thought about it, Kiba had always been there for her, right beside her, even if she was unaware of it because she would look ahead at Naruto… She must have hurt him a lot… If she had known, she might not have spent all of her time looking at Naruto. Maybe she would have looked into his eyes for one moment instead… she struggled to stay awake, and say something, anything to Kiba, but her thoughts drifted away into sleep once again.

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Kiba stared at Hinata, sleeping relatively peacefully in the lumpy, iron bed. She'd been asleep for half the day, and Sakura had tried to convince him to go home… but he couldn't… and wouldn't leave Hinata here alone. She sighed silently in her sleep. She had been doing that all day. Sometimes he thought she was awake, but looked only to find her still fast asleep. Another long sigh. Wait. That wasn't a sigh. He leaned in further, and heard it again. She wasn't sighing, she was sleep talking! He chuckled and leaned in closer to her. He could just barely make out words… "Kiba…I… Kiba…"

He was getting frustrated that he couldn't hear the rest of her sentences. "What? Hinata… What? I'm right here…"

"I… love…" she rolled over in her sleep, so she was now facing directly toward him.

"What? You love an idiotic freak who can't go one day without screwing up? His name is Naruto and you've loved him since your first day at the academy? Yeah, I know already. So stop it."

"No… he… never… no… you… care… don't you…?"

Kiba stared in astonishment. He'd never heard a sleep talker before, and wasn't sure if they could even understand if people were talking to them while they were asleep, but that had made a lot of sense to him.

"Hinata… can I… would you mind if I… did this?"

He mustered up all of his courage, and leaned forward… He started to blush and almost decided not to… but he brought his lips to hers. It felt perfect, and amazing, and he wished Hinata were awake. He didn't want to stop, but he heard a light tap on the door. He brought himself back up and tried to look as though nothing happened. Just then, Neji opened the door.

"Hello…" Neji said awkwardly. He and Kiba had never exactly been the best of friends…

"Oh, hi."

"How is she?"

"Oh… uh… she's doing okay. She's been sleeping for a long time now, though."

"Oh…" There was a very long awkward silence, and Kiba was extremely relieved when it was broken by Tenten, who burst through the doorway, looking seriously distressed.

"Hi!! How's Hinata? Is she doing okay? Oh, I hope so… Neji? Will you be staying here? I can call Sensei and tell him… and I can stay here with you… if you want…" It sure wasn't a secret that Tenten really liked Neji, but the only person oblivious to that fact was Neji himself.

"Oh… I don't think that's necessary… I just wanted to see how she was doing… we shouldn't miss training today."

"Oh… alright. Well, bye then Kiba! I'll see you later!" Tenten exclaimed cheerfully, as she grabbed Neji's arm and pulled him off after her.

"Hey… Tenten!!!" Kiba heard Neji grumble as they ran off together down the hall. It was very entertaining to watch them together. Everyone was sure that they would get together eventually… at least as soon as Neji unlocked his social barrier.

Kiba turned his attention back to Hinata, who was still fast asleep.

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Hinata pretended to be asleep. Had Kiba… kissed her? Still, she could not stop the blush from burning in her cheeks. She wished that Neji hadn't opened the door… that Kiba had stayed like that forever. Right now she was too embarrassed to show him she was awake… but she couldn't stay like that all day… She opened her eyes slowly, and tried to make it seem as though she had been asleep for all that time.

"K-kiba? Is that you?" she whispered.

"Ah! H-hinata? H-how are you feeling?"

Hinata couldn't stop herself from giggling. Kiba never stuttered… and never blushed, ever!

"W-what?! What's so funny?"

"W-well… you!" Her laugh was building up inside her until all she could do was let it all out.

"Well you seem a LOT better now."

"I… I do f-feel a little better…I-I guess… Kiba… I-I…" She wanted desperately to tell him she had been awake… that she loved him… that she wanted him to stay.

"What, Hinata?" He was still blushing.

"I… I was awake."

"HUH?! WHA-WHAT?! FOR WHAT?! FOR HOW LONG!?" His blush became even more apparent as he said this.

"U-uhm… for everything." she smiled at him, and giggled again. "C-can you… maybe… k-kiss me again?"


End file.
